#fe rufus

So... over the years since FE3H came out, I’d developed certain headcanons for some off-screen NPCs. Y’know the ones, mentioned by characters, but didn’t get a name let alone a model/portrait. The most conspicuous one might’ve been Dimitri’s Uncle- Regent Rufus.

In the main game he gets mentioned only a handful of times: by Dimitri for existing, by Felix to be criticized for not handling the rampant Bandit situation post-Tragedy, by the plot for kicking off Azure Moon’s civil war events within Faerghus.

So I’d started thinking “what type of prince is this man?” and went with the idea of ‘party prince’: the sort of secondary heir who grew up with few responsibilities and instead just lives the high life on the country’s dime. I figured, this could be a big reason why as a Regent, Rufus would be inept, cause he plain ignored duties thus has no experience ruling. Along this line of thought, I figured even if Rufus wasn’t actively malicious that he did neglect his freshly orphaned nephew (as its canon post Tragedy both Dimitri and Dedue felt isolated within Fhirdiad’s castle).

So I guess, I built up this picture of an uncle who mostly wanted to have a good time and wasn’t very good at the serious stuff in life, one that Dimitri could have a shallow relationship with that was neutral-borderline-negative. Dimitri himself never seems to express anger towards Rufus, and counts him as family in all ending routes with the possibility of counting on his uncle to keep the Blaiddyd line alive in Crimson Flower. I LIVED FOR the drama of Dimitri being falsely set up for the crime of uncle-murder, and all the gross feelings that must’ve accompanied that.